Chapter 6: Justin … you know Jake …” the two young men nodded to each other and Justin eyed Jake suspiciously and Brian tried to suppress a grin as the blond was again taking on the role of ‘Father’ to his younger sister. Molly had been a little nervous to begin with, but she wanted Jake and her brother to get acquainted: if she had her way, they’d be seeing a lot of each other and she left them in the kitchen to make small talk as she went upstairs to grab her jacket and hoped Justin wouldn’t give him the third degree. It was Saturday night and Jake had come calling to take Molly to the movies. Jake was studying to become a vet, just like his Dad and tried to get home most weekends and now he was home for the mid-term break. To Brian’s surprise, Molly kissed both him and Justin before heading off and seeing his sister’s expression, Justin bit his lip and didn’t dare remind her to be home early. “There … that didn’t hurt,” grinned Brian as they watched the two young people drive off, but Justin wasn’t so sure. “I know Jake … he’s nearly 20 … older than I am … and he’s much too old for Molly …” Brian looked at him, raised an eyebrow and tilted his head to one side and Justin frowned. “We’re different …” “Oh … and why is that?” asked Brian, coming up to him and carefully wrapping his one good arm around him. “We just are …” answered Justin and Brian shook his head and leaned down to kiss him. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After spending a couple of days resting and recovering in bed, Brian was now on the mend and although they’d tried desperately to paper over the cracks, during the next few weeks, it became evident that Brian’s accident had a greater impact on both of them than initially either he or Justin cared to admit. They’d tried to carry on as normal and had hardly mentioned it; something both of them knew wasn’t really a healthy attitude, but it would seem neither of them wanted to face the possible truth. For Brian, it was his increasing uneasiness that the Jeep had been tampered with, almost intimated at by Cliff Johnson, when he said it looked like a faulty brake line, but had shrugged at the same time. Brian thought there would have been tell-tale signs before; the lack of reaction when he hit the brake pedal for a couple of days leading up to the accident and maybe signs of brake fluid under the Jeep; neither of which he’d noticed. But whatever, after the accident, the brake fluid reservoir had been empty and Brian shivered when he thought about it. Justin had become quieter every day and it wasn’t until Molly mentioned that her brother was acting almost like he had after their parents died that Brian finally realized. Of course, their parent’s accident: this had all come a little too close to home for him. But not wanting to upset the young man any further, Brian waited in the hope that Justin would finally talk to him about it. He didn’t. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Brian still needed painkillers, but thankfully not so much and after they’d kicked in and with his arm still elevated to keep his damaged shoulder immobilized, he went to look for Justin. The younger man had come back for lunch, but had barely spoken and now he was over by the fence and looking out into the orchard, but from his expression, it was obvious to Brian that in actual fact the young man wasn’t seeing anything. “Penny for them …” stated Brian as he quietly came up to him and the blond flinched at the sound of Brian’s voice. “Hey … you’re pretty jumpy …” and with his good hand, Brian reached out to touch the young man’s hair, but Justin pulled away. Brian sighed. “It wasn’t my fault … just like it wasn’t your parent’s fault either …” Justin shot round to look at him, but Brian was right. After their parents died, there’d been a time when he was struggling on the farm, that he’d cursed them for leaving him; was angry that he and Molly had been deserted, but then he’d felt guilty at harboring such thoughts and had quickly tried to dismiss them. And now he was doing the same thing with Brian. Brian saw Justin’s eyes begin to glisten and he closed the distance between them. Carefully, Justin moved into Brian’s good shoulder and Brian winced as the young man held him, just a little too tightly, as he fought back the tears. “When the Sheriff called about your accident … I thought … not again … I couldn’t bear it …” and Justin swallowed, trying to recover his control. His voice was barely audible and he pulled back to look Brian in the face and saw an expression he didn’t understand. “What … what is it?” “I’m not sure it was an accident …” said Brian, slowly. “What do you mean … not an accident?” asked Justin and suddenly the tears in his eyes were mixed with a look of confusion. Brian briefly closed his eyes and swallowed. “I think the brakes may have been tampered with …” “What … who … why?” “I think it might have been Chris Hobbs ... he was pretty pissed when I knocked him back ...” “Chris came on to you?” asked Justin, unable to hide his surprise. “Gee … thanks …” mocked Brian, but he couldn’t bring himself to be annoyed at the young man questioning that Hobbs would actually find him hot. “But … why would he do that … what did you say?” “I told him … I told him not to waste his time … to stick with twinks his own age …” “You mean Chris is seeing someone … you saw them … do I know him?” asked Justin, curious as to who it might be. Up until quite recently, he thought he was probably the only queer around, but those theories that it’s probably 10% of the population must be true, even in a place this size. Brian didn’t want to remind Justin of Wemyss and hadn’t mentioned that he’d seen the man with Chris at the garage. But even so, at the time of his remark to Chris, Brian hadn’t been aware that Wemyss might even be in the picture and he rolled his lips into his mouth and looked down at the ground: unable to look back at Justin. Justin studied him and then eventually realized what was going on in Brian’s head. “No … no way … why would you think that?” asked the young man and he pulled away. “I saw you …” confessed Brian. “You saw us … where … doing what?” “At the hall on the night of the Spring Fling … Chris came out of the shadows … you followed him a few moments later … and then you said I should find something else to occupy me …” Justin looked at him in disbelief. “Like I was looking for an excuse to do the same? Is that what you thought I meant?” “You are fucking unbelievable … you really think Chris and me …” and exasperated, Justin turned his back and ran his fingers through his hair. “But that was after we … urgh …” Justin’s anger was coming through loud and clear. Did Brian truly believe he would leave his bed to go to Chris without a second thought and he turned back to challenge him. “You really think I could go from being with you … to him … do you still not understand just how much I love you … that I only want you?” and looking at the anger and disappointment in Justin’s eyes, Brian realized what a terrible mistake he’d made. “Justin …” Brian reached for him, but Justin backed away even further. “If you must know … I knocked him back too … so fuck you, Brian Kinney …” and turning on his heel, Justin made for the house. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Justin didn’t speak to Brian for the rest of the day and the minute she got in from school, Molly could see how bad things suddenly were between them: something had obviously happened that she knew nothing about. “Justin …” and she knocked gently on her brother’s door: he'd come storming back inside and gone straight up to his room. “Is everything okay … with you and Brian?” she asked him. Justin merely shrugged, but she could see the hurt in his eyes and so Molly retreated and went back downstairs and found Brian sitting at the kitchen table, nursing a rapidly cooling cup of coffee. The man was obviously deep in thought and for a moment, Molly didn’t want to disturb him. She could see he was obviously really down at whatever it was he and Justin had fought about and she hated to see them both so upset. She’d grown to really like Brian and it was obvious how much her brother thought of him and she went to the refrigerator and poured herself a glass of milk. She also wanted to seek Brian's advice. “Brian … can I talk to you about something?” she asked, sitting down opposite him and Brian sighed. Molly was bound to ask him what was wrong between him and her brother, but he didn’t really want to discuss it with anyone right now. “It’s about Jake … and me …” Brian looked up to face her in surprise: this wasn’t what he’d been expecting. Jake had become a frequent visitor to the farm most weekends; he was a very likeable young man and Brian could see the two young people were becoming close, even if Justin was reluctant to think of his kid sister as fast becoming a young women and Brian gave in to a wry chuckle. “I’m hardly an authority on boyfriends …” he admitted and Molly smiled weakly. “Only … he wants us to … well … you know …” said Molly, looking a little embarrassed and Brian closed his eyes and inwardly thought ‘Why the fuck me!’ “I think this is something you should be talking to one of your teachers about … or … Mrs. Sherman … or Justin …” “I couldn’t talk to Justin …” exclaimed Molly in horror. “… and it’s too embarrassing to talk to my teachers or Mrs. Sherman … they’re so old …” Brian grinned; he was sure Lizzie Sherman wouldn’t think of herself as old, but he could see how it was that Molly was missing out on female advice. “But I was thinking that you … as a guy … would know how Jake feels…” “So … how would you feel if you were with someone … would you want them to prove they loved you … even if it meant them doing something they weren’t too sure about?” “Do you think it’s fair that they should expect you to … just because it’s what they want?” Brian shook his head. “If it isn’t right for you … then it isn’t going to work ... you have to know it’s right …” “Then … you think it’s okay to say I don’t want to yet?” “Absolutely,” answered Brian. “No one has the right to make someone do something they don’t want to … to sacrifice their own feelings or wants ... that isn't love ...” and he put his hand on Molly’s and squeezed. “... And if he loves you … he’ll wait until you’re ready …” “And if he doesn’t want to wait …” “Then he doesn’t really love you …” “Hmmm … it’s not easy is it … this relationship stuff?” she stated and Brian chuckled. “You’re asking the wrong person …” he conceded and letting go of her hand, he carefully got up out of his chair and went over to the sink and threw the cold coffee down the drain and then moved to the coffee pot and poured himself out a fresh cup. Molly sighed. “Is love always this complicated?” she asked him, but Brian couldn’t answer her. How the fuck would he know: what he thought he knew about love had been knocked out of him a long time ago, or at least he thought it had. “But it has to be worth it … right?” asked Molly and Brian shrugged. “I guess …” But she was right. All the pain: all the uncertainty. You had to know it would be worth it in the end. That whatever you did, you did for the right reason: that it would work for you. Anything else would feel like an obligation; sacrifice and how could a relationship ever survive that. But then what did he know about making a relationship work: He’d already let Justin down like he feared he might, by proving that he didn’t take his feelings seriously: that he’d refused to recognize those obvious declarations of love. So if he had doubts still, how the fuck could he ever learn to love and not let the young man down again? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Justin came down for dinner, but Molly took her meal up to her room, hoping that time alone would let the two men sort out their differences. But after they’d sat in silence at the table for some while, Brian eventually spoke first. “Maybe … maybe you should see other guys …” said Brian quietly. “I wouldn’t blame you … you’re still pretty young … it’s only right you should have lots of experiences …” “I don’t want other guys,” said Justin, quietly, but with a distinct firmness in his voice and he got up from the table and collected all their dirty dishes and took them to the sink. “I just want you … but you don’t seem to believe that’s possible … and I don’t know what else to do to make you believe me … so … where do we go from here?” and he turned back to face him. Turning around, they held each other’s gaze until the older man looked away. Brian could see hurt and disappointment in the blond’s face, but he knew that it would be better to go now, before it got even worse. “As soon as I can drive and get some new wheels … I’ll be out of here …” said Brian quietly. “Fine …” answered Justin and he turned back to the sink and ran the hot water. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Though they still managed to stay civil, the tension between the two men was almost unbearable and Brian cursed his shoulder that still made it impossible for him to drive and wondered if he should ask Justin to take him to the nearest hotel. But there was something stopping him; some deep down resistance to actually walk away. It broke Molly’s heart to see just how much her brother was hurting: how much both men obviously were and couldn’t understand the problem between them. They obviously loved each other, so what on earth could be causing all this heartache? A few days after Brian announced he’d be leaving once he was fit, Molly came down to catch Justin before he started work for the day and presented him with a birthday card and neatly wrapped package. “Happy birthday, Justin …” and she gave him a hug. “Thanks Mollusk …” smiled Justin and he opened the card and undid the package. It was some new art supplies; she’d obviously saved up all her baby-sitting money for quite a while and Justin was really taken by surprise. “Now you’re drawing more … I thought you could use them …” and grabbing a piece of toast off his plate, she headed off to school. Justin sighed. He’d been feeling so much more relaxed these last weeks with Brian and had been drawing and painting a lot more; but that was until it all went down the drain. When Brian came downstairs he picked up the birthday card that had been left on the kitchen table. He wished he’d known it was coming up to Justin’s birthday; some fucking birthday present he’d just given him and dropping it back on the table, Brian took his cup of coffee to the desk. As much as his temporary handicap would allow, Brian had decided he would still continue to look over the books and keep an eye on things until he left; one chore Justin at least wouldn’t have to worry about for a while and he was on his own in the house when the mail truck drew up and he signed for the package. He groaned. He’d forgotten all about this and how ironic that it would arrive on the blond’s birthday and he almost contemplated keeping it from him. When Justin came in at lunchtime, he found the package addressed to him sitting on the kitchen counter and he picked it up and turned it over in his hands. After washing up, Justin opened it; burning with curiosity as to what it held and he unwrapped the books just as Brian came into the kitchen to fix himself something to eat. Brian halted abruptly and then turned to walk away, but Justin saw him. “You did this …” said Justin; making a statement rather than asking a question. But Brian just looked down into the empty coffee cup he’d been bringing back to the kitchen; he didn’t need to answer him. Justin’s original sketchbooks had been returned, along with two hard-backed books; properly printed and bound. “Molly and Daisy’s Adventures” it said on the covers with a picture of a young Molly on her pony and Rusty running alongside and underneath it said, Stories by Craig Taylor: Illustrations by Justin Taylor. Justin leafed through the pages: hardly able to believe how wonderful it looked to see his Dad’s words and his own artwork in print. “One for you and one for Molly …” admitted Brian, walking towards him and he looked at the books over Justin’s shoulder: they looked great; it had been well worth it. Justin shook his head. How could this man do something like this and still deny he had feelings for him: that he was incapable of love. “I said it before … you are fucking unbelievable …” and turning around, Justin reached up and pulled Brian towards him. “Careful …” and before Brian realized what had happened, Justin kissed him. It started as a ‘thank you’ kiss, but suddenly became much more. It had only been days, but how much Brian had missed him; how distant they’d become: how much both men had missed each other and if Justin hadn’t felt it in Brian’s kiss before, it was certainly there now. How was he ever going to get through to the man that it was okay to let him love him? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ At the noise of the engine that refused to turn over, Brian stirred and rolled over and wondered for a moment whether last night had been just a wonderful dream. The arrival of the books had eased the tension between him and Justin and Molly had been thrilled. Brian came up with the idea during a conversation he’d had with her and she’d given him the books and then he’d searched the net to find someone who would turn them into real publications and arranged to pay for it all. And later that evening, when Justin’s work was done for the day and with Molly again babysitting for a neighbor, the two men had managed to spend an enjoyable evening in each other’s company, with Justin unable to stop himself reading and re-reading his Dad’s stories. Brian smiled as he watched the younger man, who couldn’t believe how professional his work looked in print; a reaction Brian had been hoping for. Maybe now Justin would take his art more seriously. And, after Justin had retired to bed, neither of them had been surprised when Brian found his way to the young man’s room. The sex was wonderful; still relatively slow and careful because of Brian’s injuries and the older man was surprised at how great it had been that way. Justin had taken control and Brian couldn’t resist a chuckle at how far that young man had come in such a short space of time. But with Brian lying on his back, the blond had lowered himself slowly on to the older man’s cock. Justin gasped as he took him in; little by little and Brian had used his good hand and leaned forward and stroked him: taking them both to the edge as Justin rode him; slowly at first and then increasing the pace deliciously until they were both spent and had then carefully laid down beside him, only to find himself alone again at daybreak. And now from his own bed and through the open window, Brian could hear Justin trying to start the tractor, but it just wasn’t having it and he could even hear the young man curse. Justin should really be preparing the bottom field down by the river for the autumn turnip crop and there was no way this year that he could afford a new or even used tractor. Other than Hobbs’ garage, there was nowhere locally he could get it fixed and he didn’t really trust it to someone who might have caused Brian’s accident. Justin hoped he might be able to borrow a neighbor’s, but at this time of year, most people were using them. Justin took the cup of coffee offered to him, but before Brian even opened his mouth to speak, Justin answered. “No … I don’t need your help … I’ll sort this …” but after a few phonecalls, he was out of luck. Everyone he knew was going to need their own tractors over the coming weeks. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nearly a week had gone by and Justin was still trying to find someone to loan him a tractor and was beginning to panic when Molly suggested a day out. It was the County Fair and though they’d been to loads as kids, they hadn’t been for a couple of years. But Justin realized that Molly needed this attachment to something they’d done with their parents and accepted that a day off the farm wouldn’t do him any harm either and would probably actually benefit his stress levels; he couldn’t really remember when he’d had a whole day off to do something nice. Picnics and fairs weren’t exactly on Brian’s ‘to-do’ list, but Molly had asked him to come so nicely and at least with her there, Justin wouldn’t get too many ideas that this was some sort of romantic excursion. But it was also neutral territory where they could probably feel more relaxed: yep, a day off the farm wouldn’t do any of them any harm. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Brian groaned: “Baby contest … Miss County Fair … truck and tractor pull … oh yes … I see we even have the demolition derby and the parade to look forward to …” He was reading the program over Justin’s shoulder, but despite his injuries, Justin couldn’t help but give the man a little dig in the ribs. “Ow! Well, why can’t they have something worth watching … like a Fabs Abs … or a wet willy contest …” “Shhhh …” insisted Justin and looking around him to see that no-one had heard and looking at Brian he realized the man wasn’t really at home in these sort of surroundings, which made his agreeing to come all the more important. “Justin … Mr. Arnoldson is here with his horses … I’m going to go and say hello to Katie … I haven’t seen her in ages …” “The Arnoldson’s?” asked Brian, as Molly headed off. “Their property starts the other side of the river to ours,” answered Justin. “Though we don’t see them very much. Ben Arnoldson has a huge orchard … maybe the biggest in the state … and shows heavy horses … he’s always at these events …” The two men followed Molly who had made her way to the horse and pony section and was seeking out the Arnoldson’s great granddaughter; a young woman some years older than her and who’d been away to agricultural college and was now helping her family run the orchard and they hugged each other and went off to see the ponies. “Hello, Mr. Arnoldson … Peter …” said Justin and the elderly white-haired man looked up from the program he was studying and immediately recognized him. “Justin … it’s good to see you … how are things going?” “Hi Justin … haven’t seen you in a while …” said Peter Arnoldson, Ben’s great grandson, who’d been in the same class as Justin and the two young men had been friends. “Hi … we’re fine … thanks …” “Good … sorry we haven’t been over lately … but as you hadn’t been in touch, I hoped everything was okay … ” Like the rest of the community, the Arnoldsons had been shocked at Craig and Jennifer’s accident and offered their help to the two young people and as on most occasions, Justin had been too proud to take him up on their offer. “The horses are looking good … it’s been ages since I’ve seen them … ” and Justin leaned over the rail and reached up to stroke one of the huge greys, who snorted and stamped his feet. Ben grinned. “Have you ever seen anything as big and gentle as these … there’s a good crowd here today … it should be a good show … I don’t think I have to worry to much about the competition …” and with the obvious pride in his voice he patted the horse’s flank; its companion leaned down to nuzzle Justin, who was now lost between the huge heads of the two horses. ‘Mountain Mist’ and ‘Ice Crystal’ were two well-matched greys, weight and height 2040lbs., 18.2 and 2050lbs., 19.00 hands respectively with magnificent feathering. Decked out in their horse brasses they looked magnificent and Ben was right; two more gentle animals would never be found. “They’re beauties all right …” admitted Brian, who had learned to recognize a good horse while living on the ranch and there was no doubt that these were two of the best and when Ben looked at him, Brian put out his hand. “Brian Kinney … friend of Justin and Molly’s …” and Ben smiled as they shook hands. “Didn’t think people kept these much any more …” said Brian, indicating the horses, but Ben shook his head. “Don’t you believe it … some places they’re better to use than vehicles … I use these two in the orchard all the time … because of their manoeuvrability and there’s no pollution … well only the sort you can use anyhow …” and he chuckled “ … and they actually don’t cost as much to run as you might think …” “My Grandpa always used to tell me how they used horses on the farm … before they all had tractors …” said Justin, extracting himself from the manes which had threatened to engulf him. “Don’t go reminding Gramps about the good ol’ days … “ chimed in Peter and he rolled his eyes. “Mind your cheek young man …” said the older man, but with a twinkle in his eye. “We couldn’t all afford tractors back then … I’ll have you know Justin’s Grandpa and me used to have a bet as to who could plough their fields the quickest … that was before I moved more into fruit of course …” and he turned back to Brian. “These youngsters … don’t know what hard work is … out in the field all day and the time it took to do anything before tractors came along …” “Come on Gramps … anyone can walk behind a couple of horses …” “Oh you think so … do you?” asked Ben and he shook his head. Brian smiled. “Justin … will you come on the carousel like we used to?” asked Molly. “I think I’m a little too old for that …” “No you’re not …” insisted his sister. “You’re never too old for the carousel …” observed Brian and albeit a little reluctantly at first, Justin allowed himself be dragged off to the funfair. “I’ll follow shortly …” called Brian after them and he turned back to Ben Arnoldson. “I’ve a proposition to put to you …” said Brian and Ben listened intently as Brian outlined his idea. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To his surprise, Brian enjoyed the day much more than he thought he actually might, once he’d forgotten to make any more sarcastic remarks about the horse/mule pull, the craft exhibits and the horse and livestock shows. More than anything, he’d enjoyed being in Justin’s company; the young man more relaxed and happy away from the troubles of the farm than he could ever remember. Molly had packed a picnic and they went back for it at lunchtime. The weather was quite warm and Justin spread the blanket on the ground as his sister fetched the food and flasks from the pickup. Brian frowned; trying to remember the last time he’d ever had a picnic lunch and came to the conclusion that he never had. Justin handed him a bottle of water, which Brian put down beside him and then they both reached for the same sandwich and their hands touched. But Justin got there first and the way he held Brian’s gaze as he took a bite from the sandwich, licked his lips and then grinned made Brian shiver. That was one lucky sandwich. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “We need to talk …” said Justin seriously and Brian rolled his lips into his mouth and closed his eyes. This had been something of a special day and now it was in danger of being ruined. Molly had been thoroughly worn out after insisting in taking part in all the fairground rides and had then moved on to the rifle shooting, the little floating rubber ducks and throwing darts at the balloons before going to watch all the parades and look at the craft stands and she had already gone up to bed. Brian had refused to indulge, but had bought hotdogs and cotton candy that Justin stuffed himself with and then the young man even won a toy dog at the sharp shooting. He’d smiled at Brian and for a moment the older man thought the blond was going to give it to him, but instead Justin handed the soft toy with the big eyes and floppy ears to his sister. And then they’d grabbed a pizza and sodas from off one of the stands and eaten it in the pickup on the way home, with Molly and Justin singing their childhood songs as Brian shook his head and wound down the window to let out the noise, denying all knowledge of the words. Thinking back, Brian had no memories of days out like this as a kid; at least not good ones. He had a recollection of his Mom and Dad taking him and his sister to the zoo once when Brian was about five or six. But he’d fallen over and hurt his knee and his Dad had smacked him for being a crybaby and Brian soon learned to conceal his feelings for fear of getting hit again: Seems there was never a time when his Dad wasn’t laying into him for something or other and hiding his feelings was something that Brian had become a master at. But secretly, he’d enjoyed being in the company of these two young people today and he now dreaded what was coming. “After your accident …” “I jumped to conclusions … I shouldn’t have …” admitted Brian and it wasn’t lost on Justin just how big an admission this was. “So ... you accept there’s nothing going on between me and Chris Hobbs … or anyone else?” asked Justin and Brian nodded. “And what about you … will you be contacting Anton again … or whatever his name was?” “Anton? Who the fuck’s Anton? … I don’t know any …” suddenly it dawned on Brian what Justin had seen and how this whole mess had got started and he groaned. “I talked to him for about five minutes … 10 minutes tops … he asked me if I wanted to hook up and I told him I wasn’t interested … I bet you didn’t see that part …” “Just like you didn’t see me knock Chris back … so I guess that makes us as dumb as each other …” “So … can’t we start over … start again … I’m willing to try if you are …” said Justin and he got up out of his chair. “I’m gonna turn in … you don’t have to come with me … I understand if you want time to think about all this …” said Justin and he turned around and headed for the stairs, but then he turned back. “I really enjoyed today …” he said, smiling and then he headed up to his room. Brian remained where he was and thought long and hard for quite some while and then ran his hand through his hair. Getting up, he walked into the kitchen and took down from the cupboard the bottle of Beam he’d bought during one of his trips into town. Slowly, he eased his injured arm from the sling and flexed his fingers and shoulder. It was hard to believe but it was almost two months since his accident and Brian was tired of being trussed up and his shoulder didn’t feel too bad now. If he were careful, he wouldn’t need the sling any longer. Which would make life a lot easier: easier to get dressed, shower and even drive: drive himself away from here, if that’s what he wanted. Collecting a glass from the shelf, he went back to the table and sat down and then poured himself out a shot. Funny; in the weeks he’d been at the farm he hadn’t felt the need to over indulge and neither had he really missed the trips into the city that he used to take and had dismissed his aborted excursion to the clubs and bars, wondering now why the fuck had he done that when all he really wanted was right here. And with his drink untouched, Brian made a decision, probably the most momentous decision of his life when he then followed Justin up the stairs. Justin was asleep when Brian opened the young man’s bedroom door and quickly and quietly he stripped off and slid into bed beside him. The blond hardly stirred but instinctively moved towards him; into his body and Brian allowed himself to smile as he draped his arm over him; smelling the shampoo still lingering in the silky blond hair and feeling Justin’s firm young body pressed against his: Noticing these things as if for the very first time; the first time he’d allowed himself to. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When the dawn came, Justin woke to think he must be dreaming when he realized Brian was lying beside him: holding him. He looked back over his shoulder and Brian opened his eyes and met the younger man’s gaze; both of them knowing what the other was thinking: that Brian hadn’t gone back to his room and had stayed with him throughout the night. Wishing he didn’t have to get up so early and stealing an extra half-hour in bed, Justin rolled towards him. “You stayed …” whispered Justin; meaning not only at the farm but also in his bed and Brian shrugged. “Can’t think of anywhere else I’d rather go …” and he smiled and brought him in closer and kissed him, with a promise of much more in those beautiful hazel eyes. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “What do you think?” asked Brian and Justin looked over the man’s shoulder at the picture on the computer screen and he frowned. “Not very practical for round here … and it’s old … a lot older than I am …” Brian snorted and chose to ignore Justin’s last remark, for in actual fact the item was around the same age he was. “But it’s so classy …” he said, smiling up at him and coming to a decision, Brian picked up the phone and punched out the numbers: the ad. was very compelling. Dark green Corvette Stingray, circa 1971: 400 horsepower and with all of its original parts. The insurance had come through on the Jeep, but no way did that meet the cost of Brian’s new wheels and he'd dug deep down into his resources. The 1971 green Corvette Stingray was a classic, even though as Justin was at pains to point out, was a little low slung for the local terrain and just a tad older than in actual fact he was. But now his shoulder was healed, Brian wanted his own transportation again and this rather took his fancy and after phoning ahead, he borrowed the pickup, drove 70 miles, did the deal and came back to the farm. Then after arranging the insurance and with the right persuasion, Justin had driven them back over in the pickup so that he could collect. As Brian returned to the farm through town and came up to the traffic signals, he glanced over to the neighboring car. A brand new silver Mercedes-Benz convertible, 8 cylinder and 0 – 60 in 6 seconds; Brian had seen the ads while he was looking for himself. But it was the driver who interested him most: George Wemyss. Now, how could a bank manager in a small town like this afford wheels like that? And Brian couldn’t resist gunning the engine and using best part of a tank of gas just pulling away ahead of him, having first glanced over at the man and smiling. “Was that necessary?” asked Justin as he got down from the pickup. Brian had been back at the farm for some minutes and was leaning against the hood of the vette waiting for him. Justin had seen the little macho display of testosterone between Brian and Wemyss and groaned as Brian had disappeared in a cloud of dust. “Absolutely,” came the reply and Brian got up and put his arms around the young man’s waist. “Wanna go for a spin … if you promise to be good I might even let you drive her …” “Oh yeah … and what would I have to do to earn that privilege?” asked Justin and Brian grinned and rolled his lips into his mouth. Did he really have to answer that one? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ With the days much longer now, Justin was working later: making most of the daylight hours. Brian helped out as much as he could once his shoulder was fully healed and riding Rebel had certainly given him a good set of usefully strong arms. Lifting hay bales and repairing fences weren’t their only use however, for which Justin was very thankful. And it was as the two men were coming back from the orchard that they met Ben and Peter Arnoldson outside the farmhouse. “Evening Justin … Brian …” greeted Ben and he got up stiffly from the bench under the kitchen window and all four men shook hands. Ben used to be a frequent visitor to the farm in Justin’s Granddad’s day and it brought back many happy memories sitting there as the sun was starting to go down and waiting for the young man, who he knew wouldn’t be too far away. Inviting the two men into the kitchen, Justin put on the coffee and they all sat down at the table and made small talk as they waited. Then, when the coffee was ready, Ben made his request. “ I got to thinking … after we’d talked at the show …” said Ben and picking up his cup for Justin to pour out their drinks. “You got first again … but I guess that was no surprise …” smiled Justin and Ben nodded. “It’s always nice to win … I can’t deny that … but after talking to you it got me thinking about the old days …” and he and Brian exchanged a brief look. “I got talking to Peter and some of the farmers at the show,” said Ben. “ … lots of them remember their Fathers and Grandfathers using horses and despite what these youngun’s think … it’s not that easy …” and Peter grinned at the older man and shook his head. “Which is why when I suggested a little competition … everyone said they’d be interested in taking part …” “A competition … what sort of competition?” asked Justin and having poured out all four coffees he sat down at the table. “A ploughing competition … see who can plough the straightest line walking behind the horses … I’ve got all the gear … it’s still in good working order …” “Wow … I’ve never done anything like that … so I’m not sure how good I’d be …” shrugged Justin, but Ben shook his head. “We’d love you to take part Justin … but that’s not why I’m here …” and Justin took a swallow of his coffee and frowned, wondering what else was on Ben’s mind. “We’d like to use your field … the one that runs down to the river … it’s a really nice spot down there … we could make a day of it … put some food on … be a get together for the whole neighborhood …” “You want to use my field?” asked Justin slowly, narrowing his eyes and Ben nodded. “I haven’t got enough land that isn’t turned over to orchard any more … so … whadya say … can we use it?” Justin closed his eyes and when he opened them looked over at Brian who had been strangely quiet during this whole conversation, but the man just looked down into his coffee cup, not saying a word. “’Course you can use the field,” answered Justin, smiling. “ … when did you have in mind?” “How about next Sunday?” asked Ben. “That’s Molly’s birthday …” “Well now … we could make a party out of it … get some music together … I’m sure we can leave that to you young folks, eh Peter?” asked Ben and Peter nodded. “As long as there’s no complaints about the noise …” he answered him and the older man thumped him on the back. “Well if we’re outdoors and all the neighbors are there … there’ll be no one left to complain …” Ben chuckled as he downed the last of his coffee and stood up. “I’ll be in touch before … but don’t you worry about a thing … we’ll get it all organized …” and seeing them to the door, Brian didn’t miss the wink that came in his direction and it wasn’t because Ben had the hots for him. “That’s weird … seriously weird …” said Justin as he watched the two men climb into the SUV and drive away. “Well … I guess you don’t have to worry about getting the tractor fixed yet …” said Brian innocently, but as he went to walk away, Justin grabbed the front of the man’s shirt and brought him down for a kiss. “No … I guess I don’t,” he answered him. To be continued. Many thanks to Lois and Judy for all your help, advice and friendship.